Effectively Targeting New Adult Hunters
Strategic Priority
Recruitment, Retention, Reactivation (R3) - Marketing
Project Description
The R3 community is working together to reverse the downward trend in hunting license sales. As part of a 2021 MultiState Grant, WMI, DJ Case & Associates, and Southwick Associates used qualitative and quantitative research on new, adult-onset hunters to develop a series of new hunter personas--the demographic variables common to this critically important audience that state agencies are targeting. The final step needed to develop a systematic marketing approach for this audience is to understand the consumer journey: the steps these individuals take to become hunters. We want to know the "average" journey and the journey they would prefer to take in an ideal world, and most importantly, how state agencies and their partners can enhance that journey so as many new hunters as possible can join the ranks as painlessly as possible.
We will use focus group and survey research to develop a systematic marketing approach to attract new hunters by developing and understanding their consumer journey (the steps individuals take to become hunters). This understanding can inform more effective marketing plans and create necessary educational programs.
Project Facts
- Federal Award Number: F22AP01126
- Organization Name: Wildlife Management Institute, Inc
- Organization Status: NGO classified as 501(c)(3)
- Obligation: $148,158
- Start Date: 01-01-2022
- End Date: 12-31-2023
Results
OBJECTIVE 2: We interviewed participants of all four audience segments from last year’s MSCG segmentation project about their experience becoming hunters and their knowledge gaps. We also showed them mock online ads for hunting and hunting-related classes and asked which messages motivated them to participate.
OBJECTIVE 3: From those discussions, we formulated an online survey to test our interview findings at scale.
OBJECTIVE 3: Southwick Associates has recruited 10 state agencies to gain access to their license data to identify new hunters for the survey; efforts to ensure recruitment from each AFWA region are ongoing.
This project is a continuation of an earlier MSCG project. In the first project, we uncovered four new adult hunter audience segments (recreationists, self-sufficient, locavores, and family-firsts). In this phase, we are doing a deeper dive into each segment to discover if their hunting path differs based on their motivations. It is risky to conclude until we get verification from the survey. Still, initial findings suggest that while the motivations driving each of these four groups to hunt are different, the ultimate path they take is very similar. Messaging focused on their specific motivations seems effective in getting them to consider hunting very early in their journey. After that, however, messaging that appeals to their specific motivations loses effectiveness (in favor of messaging that helps them learn how to hunt).
OBJECTIVE 3: We are having difficulty obtaining the state agency license data necessary for the survey. For this reason, we have requested an extension from the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI). WMI assures us this request for an extension has been submitted. We continue to work on the project but have yet to receive enough license records to implement the survey.
